Safe
by Forever-Diamonds
Summary: AU: What if Rose hadn't disappeared into the parallel world? What if the Doctor realised he loved her? One-shot, may continue later


Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay, first Doctor Who fic, so I'm mildly nervous :) To clear up any confusion before I begin, this is the 10****th**** Doctor we're talking about here. Because I like him a teensy bit more than all the others...okay fine, a lot more. Anyway, after that short ramble, on with the story.**

"Rose!" the Doctor screamed as he watched his blonde companion's fingers slip from the lever, throwing her towards the opening of the void. He watched, powerless, as Rose Tyler flew to her death towards the endless expanse of white that threatened to swallow up everything in its path. And he could not help the tears that started to fall. Through all of this, he had been helpless. He had watched as the lever came undone. He had watched as Rose edged her way towards it to try and keep it open. He had watched as she had succeeded, and for a moment, his hope had been restored. But then she began to lose her grip on the flimsy lever. And she started to fall.

It was in that instant, when her fingers were starting to slip, that the Doctor realised that he loved her. He, who had deemed himself incapable of loving and being loved, had fallen head over heels for the loud-mouthed and headstrong blonde from London who was slowly disappearing in front of him. It took only seconds for him to realise that. If the situation had been different, the Doctor may have laughed at the bitter irony of it all. Now, he could only watch in fear and dread as Rose plummeted to her untimely and unnecessary death.

But then there was a hook on the wall, and she reached out and managed to grab it, and the blinding white light faded, and the void closed, and Rose, _his_ Rose was safe. And then he ran to her and she was in his arms and he was hugging the life out of her, tears of joy and relief streaming down both of their faces and both laughing through their tears. No words were needed to express their happiness, so both just stood there; clinging on to each other as if afraid the void would reopen and one of them would disappear.

ooo

After what felt like an hour, Rose pulled back, still sniffling slightly, and looked up into the wise, old eyes of the Time Lord in front of her. "I thought I was gonna die."

The Doctor gave a sad, sympathetic smile. "I know, Rose, but you're going to be fine, no one can hurt you now, I'll make sure-"

She cut him off with a motion of her hand. "I thought I was gonna die, and the only thing I could think of was you. I should have been afraid of dying, but I wasn't. I was afraid of losing you. It was like...nothing else mattered, except for the fact that I was never going to see your face or hear your voice ever again. And then I realised that it wouldn't be being in a great big void in space full of Daleks and Cybermen that would kill me, it would be the knowledge that I had lost you forever. And that would be terrible because I also realised, at some point, that I love you, and I probably have for some time now, actually almost since I met you, and..." At this point she was rambling slightly, as she did when she was nervous about something.

The Doctor frowned. "You..._love_...me?"

Rose looked up sharply, and gave a sheepish nod. "Yeah, I do. But if you don't like that, if it's not okay with you then just tell me. Wait a minute what am I saying? Of course it's not okay, you're my best friend and that would just be really awkward, so I'll take it back and we can pretend it never happened, even though you can't really do that-"

This time he was the one to cut her off. "Rose Tyler, I...I've been meaning to tell you this for a while now, I...I love you too."

For a minute, Rose looked shocked, then her face broke out in a broad smile, and she stood on her tiptoes and brought his lips to hers in a sweet yet passionate kiss, which lasted for a few minutes. At some point they broke apart and just stood there, gazing into each other's eyes, knowing that, despite whatever aliens were still out there, that for now, they were safe and at peace with the person that they loved.

**A/N: Aww! How adorable was that? How was it? Cute? Funny? Please R&R :D**


End file.
